The present invention relates to electronic signage, and more specifically to a method of displaying promotional messages by electronic price labels (EPLs).
EPL systems typically include a plurality of EPLs for each merchandise item in a store. EPLs typically display the price of corresponding merchandise items on store shelves and are typically attached to a rail along the leading edge of the shelves. A store may contain thousands of EPLs to display the prices of the merchandise items. The EPLs are coupled to a central server from where information about the EPLs is typically maintained in an EPL data file. Price information displayed by the EPLs is obtained from the PLU file.
During special promotions, EPL systems cannot display the correct price, particularly in the case of promotions such as "buy one, get one free" (BOGO). For example, if the cost of an item is one dollar during a BOGO promotion, the manager of the transaction establishment cannot display a price of fifty cents to imply that each of two purchased items is fifty cents, nor can the manager display a price of one dollar to imply that two purchased items may be purchased for one dollar.
Thus, a promotional message which is printed on a paper shelf talker or bib and which explains the promotion must be placed adjacent the EPL for the item. However, paper shelf talkers must be installed manually, thereby increasing the cost and setup time associated with special promotions.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method of displaying promotional messages to EPLs so that the EPLs display promotional messages instead of paper shelf talkers.